Lawyers Mental Health: How to Prevent Burnout Syndrome

Guest author Isabell Gaylord shares her tips on how lawyers can prevent and overcome burnout.

For lawyers who have ever suffered burnout, they appreciate just how stress can negatively impact their health. Life becomes a burden rather than a joy. 

Much of this stress or burnout is due to overwork. Balance is needed to be able to live a fulfilling life. Find out how you can survive working from home to beat burnout and live a life of balance by staying informed about this problem.

Burnout from overworked lawyers is not noble

Lawyer burnout has tended to be romanticized in the media and movies as a sign of extreme integrity, on the road to success. It isn’t. 

Burnout ruins your health, both physical and mental. It promotes the development of heart disease and can even drive increased use of alcohol and drug addiction. Burnout is nowhere near romantic, but rather the result of a diseased society for which success at all costs has become the norm.  

Not sure what burnout is?

According to psychology writers from professional essay writers, an essay writing service that provides students with essays, term papers, and research writing put it in simple words, burnout is a layman’s term to describe an insidious breakdown of physical, mental, and emotional health. Overworked lawyers will begin to experience a mal-alignment between their work inputs, the outputs received and the time to recover between excessive demands of their personal resources. 

In short, they will be asking too much of themselves, their energy and time to work demands, and not enough to their own. 

Disengagement takes place, which portends the beginning stages of a mental break with reality, which will take anyone a long time to recover from. Make a wise choice and look after your health now, or you will be forced to take an extended, expensive health hiatus in the future. 

This hiatus will in all likelihood cost more than money. Burnout can damage relationships, jobs, and much much more. 

Lawyer burnout prevention tactics

The quicker you can recognize the symptoms of burnout, the faster you will be able to resolve them and get back to living your normal life.

Prevention truly is better than cure but if you find yourself struggling to pay attention, battling to get a good night’s sleep, are always tired and irritable, anxiety attacks or irritability, it’s time to take a step back and evaluate your situation. 

Try to say no to extra tasks or things that are going to add extra unnecessary pressure to yourself.

Whenever required, act smartly and put aside the non-essential work. One way to do this is to get help from other professionals. For example, if you need assistance with legal paper writing or case writing, you can try essay writing service reviews and get access to professional academic writing that can help relieve you of some of your workloads and give you the opportunity to take a deep breath.

Recognize the symptoms causing burnout in yourself and others

Once you recognize that the symptoms of burnout are serious and not just the result of a few nights of poor rest, you should take steps to prevent it worsening. 

The symptoms of burnout are not very easy to hide and you may notice them in your peers. Should you recognize that another lawyer is suffering from burnout, don’t hesitate to reach out to them and make sure they are taking care of themselves. 

Having informed colleagues around you is invaluable to the preservation of your mental health. Building a caring network of legal professionals that has your back is critical. When everyone recognizes the symptoms of burnout and the dangers it poses everyone will be safer. 

Live a balanced lifestyle

Living a balanced lifestyle is the key to preventing burnout. This includes eating a healthy diet and following a regular exercise routine. 

But that doesn’t mean you have to become a gym fanatic! Take time out for leisure activities, partners, family, and friends. Enjoy life outside of the workplace to establish balance and maintain your health on every level. Eliminate toxic substances, people, and situations. 

Look after your mental/spiritual health

Try to engage in daily meditation to develop and focus on your mental/spiritual strength and health. You’d be surprised how much a mindfulness period of 10 to 60 minutes a day can help you deal with stress. Meditation can also encourage more deep sleep and therefore, better rest. 

Together with physical rest, meditation is a wonderful technique to practice self-care. A balanced healthy mind and body are happy and more productive, which is what supports your work and career advancement.

Take a holiday

Take a well-needed vacation to round off your routine of self-care. If a long vacation is not possible then at least try to take a long weekend to unwind at least every 3 months. Spoil yourself with a weekend at the spa, skiing, or time at the beach. 

Whatever type of rest grabs your fancy, do it for yourself because you’re worth it. Make sure you eliminate technology from rest periods because weekends and holidays are your time to relax.

Conclusion

Coping with lawyer burnout is not a simple DIY process, because each situation is individual. The overriding guidance for dealing with burnout is to prevent it from occurring in the first place. Having someone looking out for your wellbeing is a must to warn you of the signs. Listening to advice and taking time out to look after your health is critical to overcoming burnout.